Our Team

Co-Founders

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach is a 20-year educator with experiences as a classroom teacher, technology coach, charter school principal, district administrator, and digital learning consultant. She is in the dissertation phase of completing her doctorate in Educational Planning, Policy and Leadership at the College of William and Mary and her first book on connected learning is due out in the fall from Solution Tree. Sheryl is a regular presenter internationally on topics of homelessness, teacher leadership, community building, educational leadership and 21st Century reform. She is on the New Media Consortium’s 2011 Horizon.K12 Advisory board and president of 21st Century Collaborative, LLC. You can find out more on her blog and on Twitter @snbeach.

Will Richardson is an internationally respected author, speaker and blogger whose focus is helping educators realize the potential of Web 2.0 technologies in their own personal and professional practice and in their classrooms. He is the author of the best selling Blogs, Wikis Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms from Corwin Press and spent 22 years as a public school educator. Will is a national advisory board member for the George Lucas Education Foundation, is on the New Media Consortium’s 2010 Horizon.K12 Advisory Board, and is the Chief Learning Officer at Connective Learning, LLC. You can find out more about Will on his blog.

Community Leaders

Robin Ellis is a community leader in AIMS & ADVIS, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, IU13, Oklahoma, and El Paso Communities. Previously she served as the Instructional Technology Specialist in the Quakertown Community School District in Quakertown, PA. She was their the Classroom for the Future coach, facilitating staff development for teachers who have chosen to participate in a statewide initiative focused on moving classroom practices toward 21st century learning environments . She blogs at Connecting Through Conversations.

Susan Carter Morgan is a community leader in the Australia community. Susan has been in education for nearly 30 years. With an undergraduate degree in English and a MEd in Instructional Technology, her focus in recent years has been on digital literacy and using social media in the classroom to improve writing and to create opportunities to share. She led her school through a year of Powerful Learning Practice and continues to support other teachers in various communities and online. Though she runs at 5 a.m., you will also find her here, here, and here at all hours of the day and night!

Nancy Caramanico is a community leader in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia community. She is a certified Instructional Technology Specialist with a Master’s Degree in Education and a specialty in Distance Learning. She is currently working as a consultant to schools and organizations as they look to lead and learn through innovation and technology. Nancy’s experience as a Teacher and Technology Coordinator , Professional Developer and recently as a K-12 Director of Technology (2006-2011) for over 200 schools allowed her to connect with thousands of educators and professionals online.
 Nancy blogs here, or you can find her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Brian Crosby is co-Community Leader of the El Paso Community. He is a 27-year veteran teacher in Sparks, Nevada. Coming from a background in outdoor education and educational technology, Brian fuses his “at risk” students use of technology with field trips, art, hands-on activities and a problem-based approach, to build their schema of the world while at once connecting them to it. Brian blogs at Learning is Messy and can be found on Twitter at @bcrosby.

Tony Baldasaro is a Community Leader in the Canadian/New England Community and the Chief Human Resource Officer for The Virtual Learning Academy Charter School in Exeter, NH. He believes passionately that learning and expectations need to be constants, and time and resources need to be the variables in education. He writes regularly on his blog, Transleadership.  You can follow Tony on twitter @baldy7 and at Flickr as TonyBaldasaro.

Kevin Honeycutt is a Community Leader in the El Paso Community. He is a a Technology Integration Specialist at ESSDACK, an educational service center based in Hutchinson, Kansas, where he researches and develops programs with a strong passion for making teachers and learners comfortable with technology. He is also in his second term as a school board member in Inman, Kansas. Kevin spent 13 years teaching K-12 art in public schools and leading creative, adventure camps for kids for 17 years. He hosts the creative learning site ArtSnacks where he shares more than 150 drawing videos that support standards curriculum. During his classroom tenure, Kevin developed project-based approaches to learning that infused technology and problem-solving skills. He also created a film program for kids and developed it into a full-functioning curriculum at the high school level. Kevin has also developed online safety, anti-bullying, and cyber-bullying curriculum. Kevin travels the country speaking at conferences and working with educators at the grassroots level likes to promote a “tradigital” approach to education. You can follow him on Twitter @kevinhoneycutt.

Lani Ritter Hall is Community Leader in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Virtual Institute and Year 2 Passion-Based Learning communities. She also serves as the “Newbie Maven”, helping along and nurturing newbies to the PLP experience. Lani brings more than 35 years of teaching experiences in urban, sub urban, and independent schools at the middle/secondary level in the U.S and Canada to this work. A national board certified teacher, she and her students began collaborating globally in the late 1980’s. Lani has created and facilitated professional development around technology infusion into learning for over twenty years and served in a leadership role for the K12Online Conference for 2 years. She blogs at Possibilities Abound.

Larry Kahn is a Community Leader in the Leading Edge Experience. As Chief Technology Officer for The Kinkaid School, a K-12 independent school (1,300 students and over 200 teachers) in Houston, Texas, Larry has started a laptop program for teachers, reinvented the school’s technology professional development program, and helped launch a curriculum mapping initiative. Larry has been a Fellow for the Powerful Learning Practice program for two years, was a keynote speaker at the 2011 AIMS Technology Retreat, has presented at several  NAIS Annual Conferences and at the 2011 ISTE Conference. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the Independent School Special Interest Group (SIG) for the International Society for Technology in Education.  He blogs about music at audio-didact.blogspot.com.

Lyn Hilt is a Community Leader in the Leading Edge Community. She is the principal of Brecknock Elementary School, a K-6 public school serving 450 students, located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She also serves as the district’s Elementary Technology Integrator and Coach. She designs and implements professional learning opportunities for teachers to learn about the shifts in learning and the integration of technology to support student learning and instruction. Lyn shares her experiences on her blog, The Principal’s Posts, and is also a contributor to Connected Principals and PLP’s Voices from the Learning Revolution. Lyn enjoys connecting and collaborating with other passionate educators, and you can find her on Twitter (@l_hilt).

Susan Davis serves as community leader for the AIMS & ADVIS community this year, after working with PLP for two years as a team leader for Chinquapin Preparatory School, in Highlands, Texas, where she is Academic Dean and teaches English.  She established her teaching roots in the Baltimore/DC area, where she taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and American University before moving to independent schools for the past two decades, where she has found her work with students and faculty alike to be transformed by new media.  Most recently, she has designed a curriculum for new teachers to help them reflect on best practices by building learning networks that make use of blogs, micro-blogs, and social networks. She has presented workshops for AIMS, the Texas Council of Teachers of English, and the National Association of Independent Schools. Collaborating with her husband, Larry Kahn, she keynoted at the AIMS Technology Retreat in May of 2011. She blogs about education and media at The Flying Trapeze with Renee Hawkins.

Steve Goldberg is a Community Leader in the Leading Edge Community. He is creating the Triangle Learning Community Middle School, a 21st century school for global citizenship that will open in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area in August 2013. He has taught for more than a dozen years at some of the top public and independent schools in the country. He served for the past four years as a history teacher at Cary Academy, a 1:1 tablet school near Raleigh, North Carolina. Before that, he was Lead Technology Teacher at The Potomac School, just outside of Washington, DC. He has led service learning trips to rural Ethiopia and urban Kenya, where he helped students expand their global horizons. He makes extensive use of Google Earth in the classroom and believes geography can lead to a better sense of empathy. He blogs at What I Learned Today.

Peter Skillen is a Community Leader in the Canadian community and has also served as an ‘Experienced Voice’ for the PLP Network. He is currently Manager of Professional Learning for Social Media with the YMCA of Greater Toronto after 40 years teaching students & teachers. He was a founding teacher at the YMCA Academy – a secondary school serving youth who prefer an alternative approach. Peter has been involved in technology supported, project-based learning since the late 1970s and continues to explore & develop deep applications of the latest Web 2.0 technologies – particularly as it relates to learner agency, passion, motivation and cognitive intent.  Peter serves on the Board of Directors of iEARN-Canada, The Educational Computing Organization of Ontario, and is global ambassador with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). He develops and supports both face-to-face and online learning for the Ontario Teachers’ Federation. Peter is also co-founder of the Minds On Media model of professional learning which truly reflects how he wishes classrooms to be.  He encourages all students & teachers to be mindful – to ‘take charge of their own learning’. Peter blogs at The Construction Zone and loves…rock-climbing, motorcycles, mountains, oceans…yeah, adventures – even at his age!!

Brenda Sherry is community leader in the Canadian community and a connected coach.  She is currently an Itinerant Technology Coach at Upper Grand District School Board in Ontario, Canada, after 20 years as a regular classroom and special education teacher.   Her passion for technology use in schools comes from the fact that it levels the playing field for all students;  providing access to content and participation in new ways, opportunities for relevant and authentic learning within the classroom and around the world, and providing creative and unique ways for all students to demonstrate their learning.   Using social media to connect and learn with teachers both nearby and around the world,  she has co-founded Minds On Media, she chairs the Educational Computing Organization’s Annual Conference, develops and facilitates professional learning for the Ontario Teacher’s Federation  and has been a Connected Coach with the PLP Network.  Brenda blogs at Learning Zone and tries to get to the mountains for skiing and hiking whenever she can.

eLearning

Christen Dodd is the Director of eLearning for Powerful Learning Practice.  After earning her MEd. in Curriculum and Instructionat the University of Virginia, she began her career as a K-5 Computer Resource Teacher.  She enjoyed collaborating with staff and creating technology lessons that engaged students, but caught “the bug” for presenting to educators on a national level.  For the past eleven years, Christen has been training educators both face-to-face and virtually with Verizon Thinkfinity.  She has served as the Distance Learning Coordinator for Thinkfinity.org and most recently their Vice President of Professional Development.  She is looking forward to bringing her enthusiasm and passion to Powerful Learning Practice and continuing her work with educators, parents and students alike.

Marketing

John Norton is Coordinator of Content and Capacity Building for Powerful Learning Practice. He is an education writer/editor and virtual community developer and has been a journalist, director of a state teacher recruitment center and vice president of the Southern Regional Education Board. Co-founder of MiddleWeb and the Teacher Leaders Network, he began his long career on the support side of education in the 1970s, when he was a parent organizer and advocate during the early days of school desegregation in the South. He lives in the mountain woods of North Carolina.

Michelle Rogerson, APR, is Social Media Strategist for Powerful Learning Practice. She is a freelance communications consultant, offering clients a full range of marketing, public relations and writing services through her business, Reina Communications. Her 12 years of experience spans everything from strategic marketing and PR plans to copywriting and social media in a variety of industries including education, healthcare, Internet advertising, real estate, transportation, and travel and tourism. She specializes in training and consulting for strategic use of social media in public relations campaigns. Michelle has a master’s degree in Communications Management from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and bachelor’s in Communications/Journalism with double major in Spanish from Virginia Wesleyan College. She’s accredited in public relations (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America. You can find her on Twitter as @chelbycat or blogging about simple living at Greater Good Life. When she’s not surfing the Web, she’s surfing the waves and enjoying the beach in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., where she lives with her two border collies.

Chris Davis is a Senior Graphic Designer for Power Learning Practice. He comes from a computer science background and has recently obtained an AAS in graphic design. Chris is an avid CrossFitter, a Paleo nut, and possibly part monkey. He has a special place in his heart for furry canine companions and animation, and in some cases the two together. His aspirations include but are certainly not limited to joining the Virginia Beach Police Department, continuing his art education and becoming the world’s first partial cyborg. Zombies beware. Chris is looking forward to a wonderful and productive year at PLP.

Program Administration

Grace Beach is a graduate of Christopher Newport University where she received a Bachelors of the Arts in Theater with a concentration in Acting in May of 2010. She envisages pursuing a Masters degree in Theater after spending a few years putting her acting skills into practice onstage. Grace’s past work experience includes theater camp instruction and clerical work for a physician’s office. Her interests include the performance arts as well as social networking, visual art, zombie survival and sewing. She is an avid reader and accomplished maker of cupcakes.